Denfeld Municipal Pipe Organ

The Denfeld Municipal Pipe Organ was purchased in 1926 from the St. Paul Capitol Theatre for $25,000. It was officially dedicated on June 14, 1927, by St. Paul’s Hugh Goodwin.

It is a Kilgen Pipe Organ with 37 ranks of pipes and five percussion stops within its walls. Each rank has a series of pipes that give the organ its sound; there is one pipe for each note on the keyboard. Each rank can be played alone, or with other ranks. The organ has six divisions: swell, great, choir, echo, pedal and percussion.

The pipes that give the organ its sound are behind the Denfeld Auditorium’s stage archways, and one is in the back of the auditorium. The sound of the organ is produced from a compressor in the basement, which pushes air through the pipes.

Famous organists such as Virgil Fox and E. Power Biggs have played the Denfeld Municipal Pipe Organ.

Three divisions of the organ were no longer operable by 1999: echo, percussion and choir. A group called ADOPT (A Denfeld Organ ProjecT) is raising funds to restore the organ.